A really well done, exciting new mystery/steampunk series! Really a steampunk/alt history set in Victorian Brittania, the reader is thrown into the middle of the story when Emma Bannon, a Prima sorceress along with her guardian Shield, Mikal, rescue Archibald Clare, a mentath (a logic is his life, very aspergers-like in manner, Sherlockian detective.) There's no backstory, so you're figuring out the past of all three as you go, which makes this book fascinating since by the end you are left wondering some things, which make you want to read the next one. A very satisfying use of allusions to a romance without directly using the romance as a tool also was ingenious. Loved it! Emma is bad-ass lady! For those who likes Gail Carriger.